I am hosting a Spelling Bee & appearing at the Bendigo Writers Festival

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ADAM'S OCCASIONAL POETRY NEWSLETTER

Greetings from the abandoned goldfields of Central Victoria. It has been a long while between drinks, but I have some things I’d like to share with you that are all kind of nice and lovely.

They are:

I am doing another spelling bee at the Castlemaine Library on 26 July
I am doing a show for the 2019 Castlemaine State Festival about rocks and history
I am at the Bendigo Writers Festival in August

This newsletter was written on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. I pay respect to Elders past, present and emerging and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

I am doing another spelling bee

The Third Annual Castlemaine Library Adult Spelling Bee is happening on Thursday 26 July at 5.30pm at Castlemaine Library and will be hosted by me. I’ve been part of the last two, and it’s awesome to be returning for a third.

It’s three rounds of spelling, four people per round, so 12 spellers all up. If you prefer to just quietly spell things to yourself instead of spelling out loud in front of people, you can just come and watch. There’s also a written spelling test you can do to win a prize from the safety of the audience.

It’s free, but it does tend to fill up quick, so booking is advised. You can do so at this link.: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/adult-spelling-bee-castlemaine-tickets-46270351868

And no, “adult” doesn’t mean naughty. And yes, young folks are welcome to come and compete as well. We had the full gamut of sixteen to sixty-plus at the last two. No reason why this should be any different.

It will be G-R-E-A-T to S-E-E you T-H-E-R-E.

I am doing a show for the Castlemaine State Festival

I am tickled beyond pink (they call this colour "bPink!") to have received funding from both the Australia Council and Creative Victoria to develop an open-air spoken word show inspired by the poem I wrote about the Anticlinal Fold. Long-term readers will recognise the Anticlinal Fold as a curious curved rock formation in the middle of Castlemaine, which has attracted the attention of many a geologist, historian and photographer in the past.

I will be working with local Dja Dja Wurrung Elder Uncle Rick Nelson, Dja Dja Wurrung cultural consultant Rebecca Phillips, local historian Robyn Annear and local geologist Clive Willman to create a show that will lead audiences back in time from the present day to the birth of the Anticlinal Fold, and back again. Along the way we will be sharing the stories, hidden and known, that originate from this part of the world.

Development on the project starts in a week. I am tossing around the idea of keeping a production blog of some kind. I will have to see if that helps to ameliorate the occasional bouts of sheer panic that I have experienced with respect to putting this show together, or not. As long as I put some parameters around the documentation process, it should be okay. Maybe. We'll see. Stay tuned.

Meantime, you can read the poem that started it all, and download your own printable copy of the “Anticline” zine it’s featured in, on my website.

Lastly, big thanks are due to the Castlemaine State Festival, particularly Henriette Kassay-Schuster, for their generosity and support and encouragement throughout the process to date.

I am at the Bendigo Writers Festival

I’m pleased to say I’m chairing a panel as part of this year’s Bendigo Writers Festival. I’ll be in conversation with Susi Fox and Christian White about their books Mine and The Nowhere Girl, respectively.

Mine is the story of a new mother who gives birth after a car accident and is convinced her baby has been swapped for someone else’s. The Nowhere Girl is a thriller about an international kidnapping and stolen identities, set in Australia and the USA. The session is called “Child's Play”, ironically enough.

The BWF has just gone from strength to strength each year and is now indisbutably head-and-shoulders with any other major Australian writers festival. Some serious heavy hitters in the program and some great points of conversation. If I were you I’d be jumping on a festival pass pretty quick and planning your weekend accordingly.

BWF is on from 10-12 August. Details for the Child's Play session and the full festival program are both online now.

Housekeeping and such

You’re getting this because you signed up for it or I signed you up and you didn’t mind.

It would be awesome if you encouraged a friend to sign up for it as well, which they can do here. You can also read older issues of Adam’s Occasional Poetry News here.

More of my writing can be found at theotheradamford.wordpress.com.

Comments, criticisms and suggestions can go to adamatsya@gmail.com.au.

I tweet at @adamatsya and I'm on Instagram at @adamatsya.

Thanks again for reading,

Adam.